Historic ring stolen from Basel museum
Keystone-SDA
Unknown assailants have stolen a historic ring from a Basel museum. The item was a gift from Russian Tsar Alexander I to his host in Basel in 1814.
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The ring was in a display case fitted with an alarm system, according to the Haus zum Kirchgarten museum, which discovered the theft at the end of May. Internal checks suggest that the theft was not noticed immediately.
The Basel Historical Museum, to which the institution concerned belongs, has decided, in agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to make the crime public after the initial investigative measures were unsuccessful. It also registered the ring in the international database of missing cultural property and initiated an analysis and measures to strengthen its security.
+ Switzerland and Russia go back a long way
The historical value of the stolen ring is higher than its material value, the institution said without giving further details. The object, which entered the Historical Museum’s collection in 1950, bears the initials “B M”.
In 1813/1814, Tsar Alexander I (1777-1825), his army and his Austrian and Prussian allies passed through Basel in the course of their war against Napoleon I. The Russian monarch stayed at the Segerhof, a former monastery. As a token of his gratitude, he gave a brooch to the lady of the house, Dorothea Burckhardt-Merian. This brooch was later transformed into a ring.
Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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